


A Different Point of View

by Hiver_Frost_Elf, tonia_barone



Series: It Couldn't Hurt To Ask [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Bisexual Barry Allen, Bisexual Cisco Ramon, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Episode Related, First Dates, Joe West is a Good Cop, M/M, Metahuman Leonard Snart, Nightmares, Pen Pals, Romantic Fluff, Season/Series 01, coldflash - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2018-12-07 08:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11620242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiver_Frost_Elf/pseuds/Hiver_Frost_Elf, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonia_barone/pseuds/tonia_barone
Summary: A collection of scenes from It Couldn't Hurt to Ask, from the POV of the characters other than EobardWhile some of these could work as stand alone fics, they all take place within ICHtA, so keep that in mind.





	1. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Len's first date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [Hiver_Frost_Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiver_Frost_Elf) for making sure I dotted all my I's and crossed all my T's.
> 
> I’ve been toying with writing this (and future) scenes for a while, and decided to finally do it in honor of ICHTA reaching 1000 hits. The scenes in this fic will be from POVs other than Eobard’s, which is why they weren’t included in ICHTA. They aren’t in any particular order, but I’ll be sure to mention the chapter they’re from.
> 
> This first chapter is Barry and Len’s first date from Chapter 17 from Barry's POV.
> 
> Enjoy!

Barry smoothed down his shirt as he dashed out of the alley where he’d skidded to a stop and around the corner to the front of the park.  He was running late, like always, but this was one time he really wished he could have been on time.  He wanted to make a good impression, to let his date know that he was reliable, but that had gone out the window when Iris had called him as he was getting dressed to vent about something or other that Eddie had done.  Barry honestly hadn’t been paying much attention for once; he’d been frantic to get a word in edgewise to tell her that he had somewhere he _had_ to be _five minutes ago_ and he had to leave _now_.

He looked around, but didn’t see his date.  Barry really hoped he wasn’t too late.  Just when he was about to pull out his phone to text him, Barry saw a familiar face walking toward him through a crowd of teenagers.  He smiled as his date broke through the crowd. “Len! Hey.”

Leonard Snart, Barry’s date, smiled as his hand came up to rest on Barry’s arm, “Barry, I’m glad you could _finally_ make it.”

Clearly a gentle chastisement for his being late in addition to teasing him about the previous dates that he’d had to cancel on, Barry laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, I’m sorry about all those other times.  I warned you in the beginning that I could be called in at a moment’s notice.”

“Yes, because the CCPD only employs one CSI and can’t possibly spare you for an evening,” Len said teasingly.

 _If only you knew_ , Barry thought as he smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, about that: I’m on call tonight, too, so I might have to cut our night short if they need me.  Sorry.”

Len shook his head as he said, “No, I understand.” He trailed his hand down Barry’s arm to take Barry’s hand in his. “Come on; let’s go find a food cart.”

Barry laced their fingers together as Len pulled him into the park. “I could eat.” He was just glad that he’d thought to grab one of his calorie bars on the way out the door.  If he hadn’t, the amount of food he’d get otherwise probably would have tipped Len off.

Len had no idea that Barry Allen was the Flash, and Barry planned on keeping it like that for as long as possible.  When they’d met on an online sci-fi forum a couple of months back, at first Barry hadn’t known who he was talking with.  He just knew the person he was talking to was interesting, and they had a lot in common.  Later, when they’d exchanged names, he still didn’t realize that Leonard Scofield was Leonard Snart for another week. 

What clued him in was Len saying that he had a party to go to later that evening.  Barry didn’t think anything of it, and had in fact been grateful because he ended up being called in as the Flash to stop Captain Cold.  The thief was attempting to steal a painting from some millionaire who was throwing a gala that night.  Barry only connected the dots when he’d asked Len how the party went the next day, and he’d made not only a cold pun, but specifically quoted back something Captain Cold had said to the Flash. 

Barry had been torn at the realization; he _really_ liked Len.  Then Len had confessed that he wanted to take Barry out on a date.  Len had been so adorably awkward for the entire conversation that Barry had said yes before he’d really thought about it.  After thinking about it, Barry decided not to say anything, to see where this went.  He just hoped Len wouldn’t be too upset with him when he learned the truth.

They ended up finding a Greek food cart, where they each got wraps and a soda, then found a picnic table to eat at while they talked. 

“So how did your trip to Coast City go last week?” Barry asked before he took a bite of his wrap.  Len had told him that he worked in acquisitions for a private collector, so he occasionally left town for his job.  Of course Barry knew that was a bunch of bull, but he didn’t let on he knew that.  Despite popular belief Barry could, in fact, lie—he’d managed to keep Iris in the dark about his nightly activities, after all—he just didn’t like to.

Len shrugged demurely, “It went well enough.  I got the piece for my employer, which is all that matters.  Things were a little hot for a moment, but I was able to cool them down.” He smirked at his pun.

Barry laughed, even knowing he probably shouldn’t because Barry the CSI shouldn’t know why Len Scofield’s temperature puns were hilarious.  He had always found Cold’s puns funny—horribly corny, but funny—and he just couldn’t help himself.  Len seemed pleased that he’d gotten Barry to laugh, so Barry didn’t worry about it too much. 

“And what about you: were you able to see that lecturer you were looking forward to?  Who did you say it was, Professor Stein?” 

Len’s attention was focused solely on Barry, even as he ate, and Barry found himself smiling self-consciously. “He had to cancel at the last minute, so no, I didn’t.  I’m hoping that he reschedules soon.” Barry took another bite of his wrap before asking, “How’s your sister doing?  Is she back in town yet?” Len had mentioned that his sister, no name yet, was a trucker who was often on the road, but she was due to come back for a break soon.

The older man nodded, “She got in late last night.  She was curled up on the couch with Netflix when I left the house.  I’m just glad she’s home safe; I know that she can take care of herself, but I worry when she’s not around.”

“That’s natural, I think.  Well, I assume.  I’m an only child, so I wouldn’t know.  I mean, there’s my foster sister, but she watched out for me growing up, not the other way around.” Barry ducked his head as he remembered the time in high school when Iris beat the snot out of Tony Woodward.  Of course, that just made the idiot become obsessed with her. “I’ve always been a big nerd and until that last growth spurt hit, I was a shrimp.  It made me a very easy target for bullies.”

Len reached across the table to give Barry’s hand a squeeze, “You know there’s no shame in running away when things get tough, right?”

Barry choked a little at that, but took a drink of his soda to cover it up. “I know,” he said with a grin. “That’s why I joined track and played soccer on top of my foster dad’s boxing lessons.  I got very good at dodging and running away.”

“Not just a nerdy CSI, hm?” Len smirked as his eyes flicked up and down what he could see of Barry with the table in the way.

With Len clearly undressing him with his eyes, Barry felt both embarrassed and pleased.  His face felt like it was on fire, so he was probably as red as his suit, but Barry dared anyone on the receiving end of _that_ look to not blush at the attention. “I-I mean, I haven’t run like that since high school.”

Len lightly tugged on the hand he still held. “You are full of surprises, Barry Allen.  I can’t wait to find out more.”

Barry gave Len’s fingers a squeeze then stood, “Come on, I want to walk around the lake.”

They quickly discarded their trash and joined hands again as they set out to walk the perimeter of the small lake in the center of the park.  Barry couldn’t stop smiling, and from what he’d seen Len was happy, too.  He didn’t show it as readily as Barry knew he did, but Barry could still tell.  It was in the way that Len’s eyes crinkled, and the general air around the man.  It was in the way that his thumb kept rubbing the side of Barry’s hand, almost as if he weren’t aware that he was doing it.

Conversation was light for most of the first lap around the lake.  Len told a funny story from one of his ‘acquisitions’.  Barry shared a similar story from his college days.  At one point, Barry realized his face hurt from smiling so much, and he realized how long it had been since he’d really smiled.  He loved his family, and he loved being the Flash, but since he woke up from his coma, he’d been under constant stress; a bright moment here and there, but overall just a lot of serious work.

He was leaning into Len’s arm, in the middle of telling Len about one of the times he, Cisco, and Caitlin went out for drinks and the hilarity that ensued when his phone rang.  Barry stopped Len with a light tug on his arm as he pulled his phone from his pocket.  It was Caitlin. “Hello?”

_“We need you at Professor Stein’s house, Barry.  He’s here.”_

Barry’s eyes closed with a small sigh. “I’ll be there soon.” He hung up then turned to Len with an apologetic smile. “I’ve got to go, I’m sorry.”

Len shook his head. “I get it.” He tugged Barry close enough so he could lean in to kiss him chastely. “Call me later, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Barry said with a nod. “I had an amazing time tonight.”

“So did I,” Len gave him a small smile. “Now go.”

With one last squeeze of Len’s hand, Barry let go and jogged out of the park to the alley he’d arrived from.

***

Len watched Barry leave with a fond smile.  He really had a soft spot for younger man.  As he walked out of the park to where he’d parked his motorcycle, Len considered how well the date had gone.  He knew that he and Barry got along from the texts and phone calls they’d exchanged before tonight’s date, but a part of him was surprised by _how_ well they’d gotten along.  There was chemistry there, and Len couldn’t wait to see where it went.

There was just one thing, and Len felt the smile leave his face as he thought about it.  It was difficult to tell over the phone, but as soon as Barry had said hello at the gates to the park, Len couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew that voice.  He mounted his motorcycle as he tried to puzzle out where he could have heard Barry’s voice before.  Perhaps at CCPD, when he’d been arrested one time.  Barry looked vaguely familiar, and Len thought that might have been why.

As long as Barry didn’t connect Leonard Scofield with Leonard Snart, Len would let the mystery go for now.  It would come to him eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because _someone_ is so certain that Len knows Barry's the Flash, I would like to state that no, Len does _not_ know Barry is the Flash. Sure, he suspects there's something Barry isn't telling him, but he has no reason to connect his precious cinnamon roll to the hero who is a thorn in his side. I went back and forth over whether or not Len knew, and finally decided that no, he doesn't. There's no reason to connect the two, not yet. And I'll admit that I kinda like the idea of Len not knowing something for once. He's so often portrayed as near omniscient and while I don't mind him being sharp as a tack, and my Len certainly is, he can't come to a conclusion with no proof.


	2. Pen Pals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry has a pen pal while he’s in Iron Heights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Hiver_Frost_Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiver_Frost_Elf) has my undying gratitude for making sure this looks good.
> 
> These letters take place between Revenge of the Rogues (between Chapters 3 & 4 of ICHtA) and Fallout (Chapter 26 of ICHtA), with no particular POV as it's in the form of letters between two characters.
> 
> Enjoy!

January 22, 2015

Henry,            

I hope this finds you in good health.  Just remember to keep your head down and be careful around Rosetti.  He’s a bastard who won’t think twice before sticking a shiv in your gut.

As for me, I’ve had an eventful week.  I followed your advice, finally, and made up with my best friend.  Gifts go a long way to soothing sore egos, and he liked the one I got for him.  It warmed his heart.

There’s a new kid at work who’s really inspired me to think on my feet.  We don’t exactly see eye to eye, but I have a feeling we’ll have fun poking at each other.  A friendly rivalry, you might say.  If only he hadn’t insisted on trying to hog all the ice.  Everyone knows that you can’t drink water without ice.

I know that this might come as a surprise, given my hobbies, but I met someone a few weeks back.  We met online, and we’ve been chatting back and forth.  I really like him, Henry.  He’s funny, geeky, and so damn smart.  We finally exchanged actual names a few days ago, that’s how much I trust him.  Not that I gave him my actual name, but he gave me his. 

You should know that I really like him.  I’m thinking of asking him out.  There are a couple of issues that have me hesitating: his work, and his father.

You see, the place where my special someone works has a very strict policy against people like me.  I know, I know, it is such a surprise in this day and age, but there you go.  I believe we could make a go of it without his work finding out, but it really depends on if he’d be willing to try.  I’d like to think that I know him well enough to say that he would, but some people just aren’t ready to come out of the closet.

The other issue, his father, is a touch more tricky.  Call me old fashioned, but I believe you should meet the parents of the person you’re dating, if possible.  The problem with this is that his father just happens to be in prison.  Now I know what you’re thinking.  ‘Wow, Lenny, both of you have parents in prison?  What are the odds?’  Well, it gets better.  The odds of two people with an interest in one another having parents in prison are pretty low.  Want hear something else that’s funny about that?  I’ve actually met his father, about fifteen years ago while on vacation.

So maybe you can help me out, Henry.  How does one say, without being able to do so in person, ‘I’d like to date your son?’ and what do you think the chances are that I’d get a positive response, since his father knows me very well.  I know I’m not exactly what every father hopes their son would look for in a partner, but I swear that I’ll treat him right, and I’ll protect him as best as I can.

I look forward to your response, old man.

Stay safe,

Len Scofield

***

January 24, 2015

Lenny,

I’m glad to hear you’re doing well.  Don’t worry about Rosetti, he’s not a problem anymore.  It’s amazing how much safety you can buy by just giving some free advice to a guy for his kid’s health.

Wow.  It sounds like it has been a busy week for you.  I’m glad you and Mikey made up.  You need someone to watch your back.  You taught me that.  Say hi to him for me, will you?

Play nice with the new kid.  I hear he’s quick to jump to conclusions about people and he might not understand that it’s a game to you.

Now what’s this about you meeting someone?  Lenny, you sly dog.  I’m happy for you.  One day you’ll need to tell me how you two met.  He sounds like a very nice young man.  I’m sorry to hear that his work is so restrictive.  I’m sure if you are important to him, he’ll find a way around it.  Some rules are meant to be broken for the greater good.

As a father, if someone came to me to ask my permission to date my son, I’d want to know what sort of person asked permission to date these days.  If the person was old fashioned, as you can be, I’d wonder at the age difference between my son and this man, but as long as he was a good man, I would have no problem with him dating my son.  All I can hope for is that my son finds a good man to love him.  A good man isn’t necessarily a just man, mind you.  A just man can be a bad man.  You know that well, I think. 

As long as my son is happy, there isn’t much I care about more.  So if this good man makes my son happy, and loves him, I think I would be very pleased with this man.

I hope that I have answered your question adequately, Lenny.  Of course, that’s just if it were my son.  Speaking of Barry, he’s been oddly cheerful during his last couple of visits.  He hasn’t mentioned to me why he’s in such a good mood recently, but it must be something special.  So little has made him smile like this since I’ve been here.  I hope that whatever put that smile on his face sticks around.  He deserves to be happy.

From one good man to another, I hope this helped. 

Take care,

Henry Allen

***

January 30, 2015

Henry,

I’m glad to hear that Rosetti won’t be a problem any longer.  A mutual friend tells me that he’s even gone out of his way to make certain you’re safe from accidents.  It’s nice to have friends who care.

This week has been a little hectic here in Central City.  Did you hear how the heir of Rathaway Industries tangled with the Flash?  He disappeared soon after, and hasn’t been seen since.  It was very strange.  

Thank you for your advice.  I took it to heart, and after speaking with my special someone’s father, decided to break the ice between myself and him.  I’ll call him Scarlet.  He turns such a beautiful shade of red when he’s embarrassed.  He’s so easy to embarrass.  In anticipation on Scarlet and I meeting, we traded pictures over our phones.  We actually plan on video chatting later tonight.  We had scheduled our first video chat for a few days ago, but he got called in unexpectedly.  Tonight, he swears to me, he will be available even come hell, high water, or metahuman attack, which I thought was odd until he explained that he deals with the aftermath of such attacks for work.  I suppose as a scientist, having him examine the crime scenes after the fact could be informative.

As for your son, I’m sure Barry will tell you why he’s so happy soon enough.  From how you’ve always described him, he doesn’t sound like he’s very good at keeping good news a secret for long.  I’m glad to hear he’s happy.  Kid needs more reasons to smile.

I didn’t have a chance to ask him before I sent this letter back, but maybe next time I reply I’ll ask my partner if he’d bake some of his cookies for you.  He’s had a fondness for you ever since ’08, you know.

Stay chill,

Len Scofield

***

February 4, 2015

Lenny,

I had heard, actually.  The news lately has been so strange.  Speaking of, did you hear about how Clay Parker escaped yesterday?  The grapevine says that his girl broke him out by teleporting.  I know, I know, I wouldn’t have believed it myself if Linc hadn’t been the one to tell me.  You know he can’t lie for anything, and he swears he saw them disappear from Parker’s cell.  Wild times we live in, my friend.

I’m glad you took my advice, too.  I hope you and Scarlet are happy together.  You deserve to be happy, Lenny.  More to the point: you are allowed to be happy.  I’m sure Scarlet wouldn’t cancel on you if it wasn’t important.  Be patient.  Best things come to those who wait, after all, and the best things are worth waiting for.

As a matter of fact, Barry did spill what has him so happy during his last visit yesterday.  He’s met someone.  Said that this person makes everything better.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy as when he was talking about this person.  I wish I could meet this person, because I’d like to give them a hug.  Anyone who makes my son happy is good in my book.

You won’t see me saying no to Mikey’s cookies.  Those things have started riots in here, and I treasure them every time they come.  You thank him for me, Lenny.

Take care,

Henry Allen

***

February 12, 2015

Henry,

Hope you’re staying out of trouble, old man.  I did hear about Parker.  I also heard that he got sent right back to his bunk within a day of being free. Idiot.  How is Linc doing?  He staying mostly out of trouble?

I swear, Scarlet must be the only scientist at his job, because he got called in and had to cancel on our date nights twice before we had a successful date.  We finally were able to meet the other night.  I’ll not bore you with the gushing of an idiot wearing rose-tinted glasses, but I will say that our date went well.  Even though he was called away (again) mid-way through, it felt so good to be able to hold his hand.  I hadn’t realized he was so tall, though.  He’s actually a little taller than me, and you know how tall I am.  It’s a novel experience to have to subtly look up at someone to kiss them.

I lied, there’s a little bit of details, but that’s the worst of it, I swear.  :)

Good.  Barry needs someone to make him smile.  I’m sure his special someone will do their best to keep him happy.

As promised, a dozen of my partner’s prized double chocolate chip cookies, and a firm instruction from him to enjoy them all.  Also, if you want any more, just let him know.  You’re one of the few people he doesn’t mind baking for.

Stay frosty,

Len Scofield

***

February 20, 2015

Lenny,

Linc’s doing well.  He spent a month in solitary after going after MacCready, but he’s out now and back to his usual cheerful self.  I guess he was also worried about Rosetti, because he’s been hanging around me more than usual.  It’s good to have friends.

I’ll thank you not to give me the blushing details of your dates.  I’m just happy that you’re happy.  You know that I see you as a second son, right?  I don’t need the details of your love life.  I’m just happy that you have one with someone whom you obviously adore, and who sounds like they’re fond of you as well.

I’m confident that Barry’s special someone will move mountains to make sure he’s happy.  I couldn’t ask for a better person for my son to be dating.

Thank you, and thank Mikey, for those cookies.  They were very delicious, and very appreciated. 

Take care,

Henry Allen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a headcanon (that I will likely explore in a future ADPOV) where Henry and Len were cellmates at some point in the past. Henry, being 20 years older than Len, sort of adopted him as his unofficial second kid, while Len came to respect and appreciate Henry enough as a positive male figure in his life to make sure the other inmates didn't mess with Henry overly much. They kept in touch after Len left, and became pen pals. They write as frequently as they can given the fact that Henry has no life, and Len has a life of crime.


	3. The Case Against Harrison Wells Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe's never trusted Harrison Wells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, [Hiver_Frost_Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiver_Frost_Elf), ensuring that my I's were dotted, and my T's were crossed.
> 
> This takes place from pre-series up to The Nuclear Man (Chapter 19 of ICHtA).

Joe had spent all of his adult life as a cop.  His father had been a cop, and his father before him.  It was in his blood.  He supposes that he shouldn’t have been surprised that Iris had wanted to follow in his footsteps, but he just couldn’t allow it.  It’s sexist of him, but the thought of his baby girl living his life scared the crap out of him.

Him being a cop for nearly three decades means that Joe’s instincts are nearly perfect.  There’s a reason he’d been a detective for half of that time.  Joe didn’t always get the perp, but he got enough of them that his colleagues joked that he had a sixth sense about a person’s guilt.  He could sniff out a guilty man out of a line up in a way few other detectives could, and that was why he was one of CCPD’s best.  Captain Singh assigned him the tough cases, the ones that would have other detectives scratching their heads.

It was why when metahumans became a thing that existed, he was assigned to those cases.  Even before the Metahuman Task Force had been formed, many of Joe’s cases after December 2014 were the ‘weird’ cases that defied explanation.  Even before he knew the truth, he could figure out who the perp was, and the motive.

What nobody knew was that his insistence on being the best stemmed from never noticing the signs of instability in his best friend, Doctor Henry Allen, before the man brutally murdered his wife of seventeen years.  Joe pushed himself to do better after failing Nora.  It didn’t help that he now had a delusional child to raise along with his own little girl.  The kid was insistent that a ‘man in the lightning’ had killed his mom.  No child psychologist Joe had taken Barry to could convince the boy that his mind had warped what he’d seen to something he could more easily accept than his father murdering his mother.

Joe now knew that he’d been wrong, and Barry had been right all those years ago.  What Barry didn’t realize was that when Joe had realized that the ‘man in the lightning’ was real, it had shaken Joe’s faith in himself.  If he could be wrong about that, what else was he wrong about?  Without giving details, he’d brought the issue up with Eddie.  Though Joe wasn’t pleased that his partner was dating his daughter, he appreciated the insight the man had.  Eddie had said that his one failure just proved how good of a detective Joe really was.

_“You don’t judge a man by his successes, Joe.  You judge him by his mistakes, and how he deals with them after the fact.  So the question you have to ask yourself is: how do I deal with this?”_

Joe had taken his partner’s words to heart.  The answer to that question was that Joe had turned himself toward finding the real killer.  He’d see Henry Allen released from his wrongful imprisonment if it was the last thing he did.  Joe owed Henry and Barry that much, after years of insisting the man was guilty.

So Joe had pulled the case files from fifteen years ago out of storage and gone back over everything.  Knowing now that Henry wasn’t the murderer, Joe saw an embarrassing amount of evidence that proved Henry hadn’t done it.  They weren’t looking for another killer, however, so it was all overlooked.  It had appeared to be an open and shut case.  It was shoddy police work that Joe was ashamed of in retrospect.

No matter how much he went back over those old files, however, he couldn’t find any evidence of who the killer might have been.  There were no fingerprints, no DNA evidence of any sort, no one with motive to want Nora Allen dead.  Joe was at a loss because any evidence there might have been was long gone by now.

That was, there _were_ no suspects until Joe began paying attention to a niggling feeling he’d had for nearly a year.

About a month after Barry fell into a coma after being struck by lightning in his lab, the reason for his son’s coma came calling.  Doctor Harrison Wells, recovering from his own life-changing paralysis, approached Joe about Barry’s medical care.  He was very insistent that the hospital’s equipment was wrong, and that Barry wasn’t going into cardiac arrest multiple times a day.  Against his better judgement, Joe allowed Doctor Wells to prove his claims by unhooking Barry from the hospital’s equipment and hooking Barry up to a cardiograph from STAR Labs.  Sure enough, it showed that Barry’s heart rate was higher than the hospital’s machines were able to handle, and that was why it appeared as if he were going into cardiac arrest every few hours.

With that proof, Joe signed off on Doctor Wells moving Barry to STAR Labs.  When he asked about cost, Doctor Wells waved him off, stating that he was responsible for Barry’s condition, so he would cover every expense involved with that.  When Joe checked in with other victims of the particle accelerator explosion, he found that Doctor Wells was covering all of the costs of their care.  The man was guilty of ruining many lives, but Joe couldn’t deny the man owned up to his mistake.

Joe stood back and observed the staff at STAR Labs with Barry for the next few months.  Something was beginning to ping that old cop’s instinct.  That was when Joe noticed that Doctor Wells seemed very attentive in monitoring Barry’s recovery.  It didn’t take long to notice that while he covered the cost of the other victims of the explosion, Barry was the only one he brought to STAR Labs for treatment.  Joe spent a lot of time in those first few weeks at Barry’s bedside, and Doctor Wells could be seen somewhere in or around the medical suite Barry was in.

Joe also got to know the two employees who remained at Doctor Wells’ side: Caitlin Snow, and Cisco Ramon.  Doctor Snow had lost her fiancé in the explosion, and was a very serious, no nonsense woman ever since, at least according to Cisco.  Cisco, by contrast, was relatively upbeat and positive.  Joe had a feeling that Barry and Cisco would have been best friends if they’d actually met.  Even if Cisco insisted on playing Lady Gaga songs because Barry had liked _one_ on his Facebook profile.  If Barry did wake up, Joe was sure it would be just to tell Cisco to cut it out.  Joe did also suggest old show tunes from classic musicals, and those at least got played just as frequently.

After Barry woke up, it struck Joe as odd how insistent Doctor Wells was that Barry continue to come by the Labs for tests to ‘make sure there’s no lasting effects of his coma’.  Follow up checkups were to be expected, Joe knew, but he wondered at the daily appointments.  At least, he wondered until he found out that Barry had superpowers, was a superhero, and that his home base was STAR Labs.  That explained the amount of time Barry spent at the Labs, but not necessarily Doctor Wells’ continued interest.  Joe was quiet as he observed how closely Doctor Wells watched Barry.  Even with the excuses he gave of wanting to use Barry’s powers for science, it was weird.  Joe might have thought that Doctor Wells had impure intentions toward Barry, but he saw no sign of lust or suppressed want in Doctor Wells’ eyes or his actions.  Something about it still raised flags with his cop sense.

Joe borrowed Barry’s copy of Doctor Wells’ autobiography and found it a dry read.  The only thing it told him, aside from the tragedy he’d suffered a few weeks after Nora Allen had been murdered, was that the man was egotistical and enigmatic.  Interviews with colleagues said that after losing his long time romantic partner, Tess Morgan, Harrison Wells became a completely different man focused solely on the creation of the Labs that the two of them had been planning to build.  According to his autobiography, Doctor Wells built it in her name, and cited her as the inspiration for it.

The further that Joe dug into Doctor Wells, the more flags he saw.  While constructing STAR Labs, Doctor Wells had donated a significant sum to a local middle school and a local high school.  Both were schools that Barry had attended, and Joe remembered that those donations had helped increase the funding for the sciences.  Then there was the special scholarships he created for one of the local colleges for young scientists, and less fortunate students who excelled academically.  The same college Barry had ended up going to for his undergraduate and master’s degrees.  Joe knew for a fact that Barry had only been able to attend that college because of those scholarships. 

Now that Joe was looking for it, he thought back to around the time Barry had graduated.  The CCPD had gotten an anonymous donation a few months prior with the stipulation that it be used solely for their CSI division.  That donation was the reason they were able to hire Barry at all; they’d been short staffed for years prior, but that donation created the funding necessary to hire two other full-time forensic analysts, including Barry, plus another part-time forensic analyst. 

Joe had taken a step back when he discovered that.  Those were some pretty big coincidences.  Added with how Doctor Wells was focused on Barry’s care and recovery after he was struck by lightning, it painted a very specific picture that Joe didn’t like the look of.  Doctor Wells seemed to have an unhealthy interest in Barry, and had for a very long time.  Since the accident that had killed Tess Morgan.  Since Barry’s mother had been murdered.  Coincidence after coincidence.

Staring at all the evidence, Joe’s instincts were screaming at him that there was something more to Doctor Wells, and that something wasn’t anything good.  He had enough circumstantial evidence that he got Cisco to come with him to Barry’s old house to look at the scene of the crime again.  He didn’t know what they’d find, but he trusted that Cisco would find _something_.

And he did.

Joe was both pleased that they found something and very disturbed by what they found.  Photographs of that horrible night were hard to look at, but Joe pushed past that unease to examine the evidence in front of him.  It didn’t take long for him to notice the blood spatter.  He had Cisco take samples back to analyze, but didn’t mention his suspicions about Doctor Well.  Not yet.  Not until Cisco came back and said that one of those blood samples was from an adult Barry, and the other was unknown.  Joe was disappointed that the other wasn’t from Doctor Wells, but not too surprised.  Harrison Wells had been on the beach vacationing with Tess Morgan when Nora had been murdered.  In fact, the accident that took Tess Morgan’s life had happened on their way home.

Explaining his suspicions to Cisco had the younger man defending Doctor Wells, but Joe could see the gears turning in Cisco’s brilliant brain.  He’d see what Joe did soon enough. 


	4. Coldflash Cuddling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just read the chapter title, m'kay?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, this takes place after chapter 36 (which isn't posted yet, but y'all oughta be fine; nothing super spoilery occurs here).
> 
> Betaed & approved by [Toni](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tonia_barone/pseuds/tonia_barone). Many thanks for permission to post this and to breed plot bunnies all over his series.

Barry and Len had finally moved in together.  Len was used to shuffling around safehouses at least once a month to keep Lewis, Santini, and other hounds off his and Lisa’s and Mick’s tails; yet aside from moving in with the Wests after Nora’s murder, going off to college, and that hovel of an apartment Barry used to dwell in, Barry was mostly a stationary individual.  Therefore, Len expected some anxiety to arise from sleeping in a new residence.

Len’s eyes bolted open when he felt Barry shifting beside him.  A light press against his forehead confirmed that he was also sweating.  Len gently roused him.  Barry inhaled as if he hadn’t been breathing for the past few minutes.

“Babe?” Len held him close while Barry calmed down.  This usually meant he’d been dreaming about the night his mother died, yet that wasn’t the case tonight.

“Y-you know—you know how I told you a-about the old timeline???”

Living with Joe made Barry reluctant to tell the truth.  Sure, he was horrible at blatantly lying, but he rocked lying by omission.  It was a miracle he told Len about the tidal wave at all.

“I-it’s not his fault, b-but his lightning’s red, too—a-and i-it,” his own hyperventilating cut him off.  Len held him again and rubbed his back, humming songs he used to sing to Lisa. “It looks just like his, Lenny.”

Wells didn’t raise the same kind of alarms Lewis did, but he was still inexplicably fishy.  Still, the man who’d murdered Nora was currently locked in Iron Heights with no escape in sight.

Barry sniffled when Len reached out to dry his eyes. “If Wells ever tries anything, I’ll ice him; but he’s been a decent mentor so far—disapproval of you dating sexy Jewish geniuses notwithstanding,” that got a couple chirps of laughter out of Barry, “and like you said, he can’t control what color his lightning is.  You might not ever stop fearing it—and nobody who loves you will think less of you if you don’t—but if you ever become scared of his lightning, just remind yourself that the color of his lightning can’t hurt you.  It’s just a color.” Barry nodded in agreement and probably would’ve said something adorable if Len hadn’t added, “The lightning itself will hurt like hell, but the color’s harmless.”

Barry’s smile flattened halfway.  He wasn’t sure if he should laugh again or roll his eyes, so he settled for pecking Len’s forehead and snuggling close.  Len pulled the covers back over them and watched Barry until the younger man fell asleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for taking time to read this :) enjoy what you do here and everywhere ;D


	5. Back to the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Barry when he went back to the future?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the first ADPOV scene I ever plotted in my head: the scene where canon!Barry travels back to the future from ICHtA Chapter 6. And I decided that future!Barry is canon!Barry. This chapter shows us what it’s like for canon!Barry to suddenly find himself in ICHtA. Consider this a sneak peek at where ICHtA is going to be by late Season 2. 
> 
> Finally wrote this out because I'm over the moon about the fact that ICHtA has reached 2000 hits. Thank you so much, guys. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Barry landed on the other side of the portal and found himself in the cortex.  Hopefully, Cisco had come up with a way to deal with the Time Wraith in the last year. “It’s coming!”

Caitlin looked down at where Barry lay sprawled in front of the cortex in surprise. “Did you even really go?”

“The Time Wraith; it’s coming!”

“Oooo, that’s a good name,” Cisco exclaimed as he reached for the sonic gun.

“Did you figure out how to stop it?” Barry asked as he got to his feet.  He watched Caitlin and Cisco turn to face the doorway. 

Cisco shot at the Time Wraith when it appeared, but the gun had no effect.  Cisco backed up against the console as he said, “Damn!  We thought so!”

The Time Wraith wove around Caitlin and Cisco, ignoring them completely, and latched onto Barry.  It pushed him to the floor as it began sucking out his energy.  Barry felt himself weaken the longer the Time Wraith held on.  This was it.  This was how the Flash died.  Barry could hear Caitlin yell his name.  He looked to his right and did a double take, despite the Time Wraith’s very real danger as it slowly killed him.  It was a hallucination brought on by near-death; it had to be.

The Time Wraith let Barry go and flew back toward Caitlin’s lab.  Barry watched in shock as Hartley held the Time Wraith in place with his gauntlets briefly before obliterating it. 

Hartley grinned at Caitlin and Cisco. “I suddenly realized: low frequency, high intensity.” 

Cisco nodded then muttered to Caitlin, “I knew that.”

Hartley turned to Barry and offered him his hand with a smile. “Welcome back!  How was your trip?”

Barry stared at Hartley’s hand for a long moment before hesitantly taking it and allowing himself to be pulled up.  He released Hartley’s hand as soon as he was on his feet and looked at his two friends questioningly.  Caitlin—wait, why was her hair half-white?  And were her eyes _blue_ now?  Was she turning into Killer Frost?!—and Cisco didn’t seem disturbed to find Hartley there; Cisco looked relieved, in fact.  Barry was left even more confused a minute later when Cisco came around the console to reel Hartley in for a kiss.  Barry turned to Caitlin, but found her smiling fondly at the pair between them.

“You stupid genius, what would you have done if your gauntlets hadn’t worked?” Cisco lightly shook Hartley with the grip he had on either side of Hartley’s face.

“Amado, you worry too much,” Hartley replied with a grin. “Eobard and Harry triple checked my equations a few months ago, so I knew I was safe.”

Barry’s eyes widened at the names Hartley casually dropped. “Eobard?  He’s here?!”

Hartley turned to frown at Barry in confusion. “Yes, of course he is.” He hesitated, suddenly looking worried. “Well, he’s…his condition is unchanged.”

“Really, Hartley, you make it sound like I’m either dead or still in a coma,” came a voice Barry hated from the doorway behind Cisco and Caitlin.  As Barry watched Eobard Thawne, sans glasses, roll into the cortex in his wheelchair as he continued, “I’m confident that with the information Barry brought back to us that I will be back on my feet and running around the city in no time.”  He turned to smile at Barry. “Isn’t that right, Barry?”

Barry took in how nobody seemed surprised to see Eobard, and snarled. “What did you do to them?”

Eobard’s eyes widened a fraction in understanding. “Ah.  I had hoped the act of sending our Barry back would have canceled this you out.” Ignoring the questioning looks around him, Eobard rolled passed them to come to a stop in front of Barry, who had backed up closer to the stand where his suit typically was. “You are the same future Barry we encountered a year ago, aren’t you?”

“How are you still here?  What did you do, Thawne?” Barry clenched his fists, ready to attack as soon as he was certain that his friends were okay.

“I did nothing.  I genuinely have no idea what you think I’ve done, though I can guess.  You think that I somehow brainwashed the other children.  I promise you, Barry, that I did nothing of the sort.  I simply told them the truth.” Eobard smirked at Barry where the others couldn’t see it.

“That you’re a murderer who killed my mom?” Barry didn’t want to take his eyes off of Eobard, but he needed to see how that news was taken by the others.  To Barry’s surprise, none of the other three people in the room were looking at Eobard with surprise or disgust.  Instead, they all watched Barry with open concern and worry.

Eobard shook his head. “No, Barry, that was my twin brother, Edgar.  I only ever tried to protect you.  I’m sorry that I couldn’t stop Edgar from killing your mother.  That’s a guilt that I am reminded of daily every time I look at you: my greatest failure.”

“Professor Thawne—” Caitlin tried to interject.

Eobard shook his head, though his eyes remained on Barry. “No, Caitlin, it’s true.  There’s no need to sugar coat it for Mr. Allen.  You won’t accept my word on anything, will you?  No, of course not; to you, I am a villain.  Speak to the other children, and to Harry.  You’ll see.  Hopefully your memories of this timeline come before the next threat appears.”

Barry watched as Eobard turned his chair around and rolled out of the cortex, feeling nothing but relief at that monster’s retreat. 

Caitlin looked like she wanted to follow, but in the end she rounded the console to slowly approach Barry. “I’d like to look you over, Barry.  We don’t know what the trip could have done to your system.  Especially if you really are a different Barry from the one we know.”

“Yeah, fine.  That’s fine, Caitlin.  Nothing really happened back then, though,” Barry said as he followed her into her smaller lab off the cortex.

As he left the cortex, Barry heard Cisco and Hartley speaking quietly, but he couldn’t really make out what they were saying, except something about having to tell ‘Len’.  Whoever ‘Len’ was.  Why would he need to be told about this situation?

Caitlin waved to one of the exam beds as she gathered what she needed. “Have a seat and take off your shirt.” She came over to him and checked his temperature before sticking a pulse ox meter on his finger.  “110.6, which is normal.”  She made a note on her tablet before setting it aside to slip the blood pressure cuff on his arm.  Caitlin froze as something caught her attention. “When did you get this?”

‘This’ being the ring of a quickly yellowing bruise on his right wrist.  Barry stared at it in surprise. “Oh.  I thought that would have healed by now.” At Caitlin’s quelling look, Barry explained, “Not too long after I arrived in the past, I guess something I did or said tipped off Thawne that I wasn’t your Barry.  He knocked me out and I woke up handcuffed to his wheelchair while he stood over me gloating.”

Barry was disappointed that his mentioning that Thawne was capable of walking didn’t get more than a brief pause from Caitlin as she took his blood pressure.  Once she’d noted the reading, she said, “Professor Thawne was probably worried that you were going to hurt us.  He’s really protective of us.”

“I mention that he walks and you don’t blink?” Now Barry was confused.  What weird future had he stumbled back into?

Caitlin shook her head. “He admitted a few weeks later that he’d been walking since Christmas, so no, I’m not surprised.”

“But he’s in a wheelchair now?” Barry asked slowly.

“Because Zoom syphoned most of his speed before you and Len could stop him.  That’s why you went back in time; to ask Professor Thawne about the speed equation,” Caitlin said as she removed the pulse ox monitor and jotted down the readout. 

“Why couldn’t Thawne just tell you?” 

“He was in a coma until a few minutes before you left.  We wanted to wait, but Harry said that you should probably still go or you’d cause a paradox.” Caitlin shrugged then got her stethoscope to listen to his heart and his breathing.

After she’d had him breathe like an old asthmatic, Barry continued with his questions, “So I’ve really been okay this last year working with the man who murdered my mom?”

Caitlin set down her tablet to give Barry her full attention. “Professor Thawne explained, Barry.  _He_ didn’t kill your mom, it was his brother, Edgar, the Reverse Flash.”

Barry laughed harshly at that. “ _Eobard_ Thawne is the Reverse Flash, Caitlin.”

She shook her head. “Maybe in the timeline you originally came from, but not this one.  Edgar Thawne, the Reverse Flash, traveled back in time to kill you, but killed your mom instead.  Eobard followed his brother, along with the future Flash, to stop him, but failed.  Eobard captured his brother and kept him locked up until around the time you just came from.  Instead of continuing to try to murder you, Edgar turned himself in and confessed to the murder.  Your dad got out a few months later, and Edgar died in the first battle with Zoom.” Caitlin pursed her lips before adding, “He saved your life.  Not that that negates all the bad he did, but he went out a hero in the end.  He insisted that he wanted to prove to you that he’d changed, and he did.”

None of this made any sense to Barry. “But Eobard _is_ a speedster?”

Caitlin nodded. “Yes, he is.  He’s the fastest man alive.” She ignored the scoff Barry gave at that. “I swear, Barry, that Eobard Thawne in this timeline is a good man.  I’m sorry that he wasn’t in your timeline.”

Barry realized that he wouldn’t be swaying her on this any time soon, so he let it go.  Instead, he addressed something that he’d been curious about since he’d first noticed it. “So you have frost powers in this timeline?”

“What?  Oh!  I guess that I didn’t in your timeline?” Caitlin held out her hand and allowed it to mist. “I’m still learning to control it, but yeah.  Oh, don’t touch me.  I don’t know if you noticed how I avoided touching your skin?  It turns out that I’m a heatsink; you’ll get frostbite if I touch you.”

“But you’re otherwise fine?” Barry studied her warily.

“I mean, I miss being able to hug people, but I can still touch Ronnie.  I probably would have gone crazy if not for being able to touch him.” Caitlin leaned against the bed opposite the one Barry sat on, then frowned after a few moments. “You have a really weird look on your face.  Did something happen to me in your timeline?  Also, if I didn’t have ice powers in your timeline, how’d you know I did?”

Barry shook his head. “We ran into your doppelgänger on Earth 2.  She was known as Killer Frost, and she wasn’t nice.” At Caitlin’s blank look, he frowned. “You guys never ran into Killer Frost?”  Caitlin shook her head. “Oh.  That’s probably for the best.  Deathstorm and Reverb weren’t very nice, either.  It’s good that you guys never ran into them.”

“Actually, we met Reverb,” Caitlin said. “He and Soundwave were, well, not nice exactly, but they weren’t too bad.  Just doing what was necessary to survive Zoom.”

Now it was Barry’s turn to frown in confusion. “Soundwave?”

“You didn’t have Soundwave?  Huh.  He’s Hartley’s double,” she explained.

“No, no we didn’t.  At least, we never came across him.” Barry thought about that for a minute then decided to go back to something else Caitlin had said. “So…you said that Ronnie’s okay here?”

Caitlin stared at him for a minute before her eyes widened in understanding. “He wasn’t in your timeline?” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath when Barry shook his head. “Ronnie’s fine.  He’s currently out with Professor Stein training Blastzone out in the Badlands.” At Barry’s questioning look, she said, “Doctor Henry Hewitt and Jefferson Jackson?”

Barry’s eyebrows rose at that. “You mean they merged in this timeline?”

“They didn’t in yours?”

He shook his head.  “No, they didn’t.  When Ronnie…well, Professor Stein needed to merge with someone with the Firestorm matrix because he was dying without another half.  We thought Hewitt would be compatible, but he wasn’t.  Jax was, so now they’re Firestorm.”

“What happened to Henry?” She asked.

Barry grimaced. “He… didn’t make it.”

“Oh.”

Barry gripped the edge of the bed and stared down at the floor for a few moments. “You’re sure that Eobard is trustworthy?”

Caitlin didn’t hesitate when she said, “Yes, absolutely.  He’s odd, and sometimes can come off as cold, but he cares for us.  He’d do anything for us.”

He thought about that.  It was possible, even likely, that Eobard was lying to the team.  They were so loyal to him, however, that he’d just have to show them Eobard’s true colors.  Once they saw how he really was, they’d help Barry get rid of Eobard. “Okay, fine.  I guess it’s possible that he’s different in this timeline.  I’ll give him a chance.” Barry smiled at Caitlin before asking another burning question he had. “So who’s Len?” From the look on her face, he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like the answer.

***

Barry was still reeling from everything he’d learned from Caitlin as he walked into Cisco’s workroom.  Caitlin was a meta, Hartley was a good guy who was apparently _dating_ Cisco, and Eobard Thawne wasn’t evil.  Oh and to top it all off, Barry was dating _Leonard Snart_ of all people.  What the hell had happened to the timeline while he was in the past?  Did his visit really matter so much that it sent the timeline careening into such a different direction?

He was relieved when he looked up to find Harry at the glass whiteboard going over the speed equation. “Harry.”

“Allen.”

At least some things never changed. “I got the rest of the equation, though I’m not sure I understand what good it’ll do if it’s not to make me go faster to stop Zoom.” Barry held out the thumb drive to Harry, who took it with barely a glance back at Barry.

“Zoom’s dead, so you don’t need to worry about going faster anymore,” Harry said before finally turning to look at Barry with a small frown. “Cisco mentioned that you were from an alternate timeline.  You really don’t remember Snart killing Zoom?”

Barry shook his head. “In my timeline, Zoom was still a threat.  I needed to go faster, so I went back to get the speed equation from Thawne.”

“Interesting.  In this timeline you traveled back in time to save Thawne with the speed equation.  There was no guarantee that he’d wake up from the coma Zoom put him in, or if he did that he’d still have his connection to the Speed Force.” Harry walked over to one of the computers in the room and inserted the thumb drive.

“That’s what Caitlin said,” Barry replied as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.  He’d never been comfortable around Harry because of his resemblance to the man who murdered his mother, but he’d been getting better recently.  At least in his timeline.  That didn’t mean that Barry could be around him without wanting to punch him.

“I assume Snow caught you up on everything of importance?” Harry asked absently as he studied the formula on the screen.

“You mean did she tell me why the hell my mom’s murderer isn’t in the pipeline or dead?  Yeah, she did.” Barry paced on the other side of the room from Harry.

Harry looked up at that. “I understand holding a grudge, Allen, but it’s my understanding that the Eobard Thawne that is here isn’t the same man that murdered your mother.” He paused before continuing with, “Timelines are very tricky things.  I don’t know why it was different here.  Perhaps you’re not just from a different timeline; maybe you’re from a different Earth.” 

Barry stopped pacing to stare at Harry. “Wait.  You think maybe I ran fast enough to break the dimensional barrier?”

Harry shrugged. “Zoom could do it; why not you?”

Barry ran a hand through his hair. “Great.  So what about _my_ Earth?  All my friends are waiting for me to return to defeat Zoom.  If I’m not there…”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Allen.  That’s probably something you need to ask Thawne about.” Harry stared at Barry for a minute, then sighed. “There is no way of knowing which Earth you come from, so the chances of you ever returning are so miniscule as to be impossible.  Not to mention that your arrival seems to have erased our Barry.  _If_ you really are from another Earth, and not just a different timeline, then we’ll find out soon enough.”

“How?”

“You won’t get the memories of our Barry.  Time wants to happen.  When this timeline sets, you should get the memories you don’t have.  _Unless_ you’re from a different Earth, in which case you’ll never remember because you don’t belong here.”  Harry finally turned back to the computer. “Either way, you should speak with Thawne.”

Barry grimaced at the thought. “Thanks, Harry.”

“You’re welcome, Allen.  Now get out of here so I can concentrate.  All this angst is distracting.” Harry waved at the door.

Laughing, Barry shook his head as he left the room.  He didn’t know where Cisco was, and while he really wanted to talk to one of his best friends, Barry wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to interrupt if Cisco was with Hartley.  He definitely wasn’t ready to face Eobard yet, so Barry went to the spot he always went to when he needed to think: the pipeline.

Only when he got down there, he found a completely different set up.  There was a wide room with a console on one side, and a ramp across from the door that appeared to lead to the pipeline.  He slowly walked around the room, peering at the different things he found, and tried to figure out what the hell this place was.

“After you and the Professor moved the metahumans to Iron Heights, he suggested a training arena of sorts.  The kids call this the Speed Lab.”

Barry spun around at that familiar voice and just stopped himself from attacking.  He couldn’t keep the wariness from his tone as he said, “Snart.”

“Barry,” Len replied with a sad smile. “They warned me that you didn’t remember.  I didn’t think about how it would feel to hear that level of caution in your voice again.”

He tried to relax, but even knowing the Leonard Snart where he was from was off traveling in time couldn’t stop Barry from tensing as Len slowly approached. “Caitlin mentioned that we were together, but she didn’t say how that happened.”

Len grinned as he gave a small huff that might have been a laugh in another context.  It didn’t escape Barry’s notice that he kept his right hand on the grip of the cold gun. “We got together before I discovered you were the Flash, but after I got my gun,” he said as he tapped said gun. “I asked you once why you would date your enemy, and you said that we were more alike than not.  That you could have turned out as bad as I did in another life.  Or, in another life, I could have been as good as you were.” Len stopped when he was just out of arm’s reach. “You’ve always seen the good in me, just as I’ve always seen the bad in you.”

Barry thought again to the fact that the Snart he knew was saving all of time and space with a group of his friends. “There _is_ good in you, Snart.  I’m glad to see that I was right.”

“But not glad enough that we’re together,” Len surmised sadly. 

Barry shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know you like that.  I’m sorry.” He felt time dilate as he thought back to all of his and Snart’s interactions in his timeline.  To all the flirting they did as they played cops and robbers.  No, he didn’t have that sort of relationship with Snart, but maybe they could have gotten there, eventually, if Snart hadn’t gone off with the others.  Barry let time slip from his grasp to add, “But I wouldn’t mind getting to know you.”

Barry was surprised to learn that Len’s smile was as bright as the sun.

***

After several hours of hanging out with Len—and Barry could now think of him as Len—Barry went looking for the one man he’d avoided up to that point.  If he was stuck in this weird mirrorverse, he might as well discuss it with the man who, as always, knew the most about it.  After searching all of the most likely spots in the Labs, Barry found himself standing outside the time vault.  It was the last place he’d looked, so of course that was where he would find Eobard.  Sure enough, when he opened the door and stepped inside, Eobard was sitting in his wheelchair in front of the podium watching a handful of screens that showed various members of Team Flash going about their afternoon.  In the center, however, was the screen showing the hallway outside the time vault.

“I had wondered if you would come to see me,” Eobard said as he half-turned his head to address Barry without looking away from the screens.

Barry stepped up to stand beside Eobard, but said nothing as he watched his friends go about their lives. “They all say that I can trust you, but we both know that’s a lie.”

Eobard gave a low chuckle as he finally looked up at Barry properly. “Is it?  I have done nothing since I last saw you but my best to protect all of them.  I know that you don’t believe me, Barry, but I see each of you—you, Cisco, Caitlin, and Hartley—as my children, or the closest I’ll ever know at any rate.  There is nothing I wouldn’t do for any of you.” Eobard faced forward once more.  “Including give up on my one chance to go home.”

“So you don’t deny it?  That _you_ killed my mother?” Barry asked as he stared at Eobard.

After a long pause, Eobard nodded.  “It was me, and I’m sorry, Barry.  I allowed my anger to get the better of me.  I’m not proud of that lapse in control.  The children outside, however, do not know that.  To them, my twin killed your mother.”

He felt like an idiot for not piecing it together sooner, seeing how Jay had _just_ done the same thing to him earlier that week. “You created a time remnant to take the fall.”

Eobard smiled proudly, though didn’t look away from the screens. “I always knew you were the brightest.”

Something didn’t make sense.  Barry’s brow furrowed as he stared at Eobard. “Why are you telling me this?  Aren’t you afraid that I’ll tell the others?”

“Aside from the fact that they wouldn’t believe you,” Eobard said as he finally turned his full attention on Barry, “you’ll forget soon enough.  Harry’s admittedly not wrong about much, but he’s wrong about you.  You aren’t from a different Earth, Barry; you’re from a different timeline.  Perhaps even the timeline I created when I killed your mother, but one that deviated from this timeline when I decided against going home.  You will remember this timeline as the timeline sets, and you’ll forget this conversation completely.  Once again, I win.”

Barry glared at Eobard’s smug smile. “You’ll trip up eventually, Eobard, and then they’ll learn the truth.”

Eobard shook his head. “No, Barry, they won’t.  As far as they’re concerned, they know the truth and there is nothing else for them to look into.  Gideon, show Barry the future.”

Barry turned away from Eobard to stare at where the familiar newspaper now took up the screen.  At least, it used to be familiar.  Barry took in the changes, his eyes widened in shock.  After speaking with Len, he wasn’t surprised so much to see he and Cold working together to save the Mayor.  What was surprising was the changes to Captain Cold’s suit he was seeing: blue boots, pants, and a blue tank top with white accents, though Barry saw that it still had a fur-lined hood.  Captain Cold in the picture now wore a blue domino mask and most shocking of all had ice layered over his hands and halfway up his arms.  Captain Cold still had that infuriating smirk, but he stood at the Flash’s side now instead of against him, that much was clear.

The second article mentioned others named Savitar and Frostbite, but the picture accompanying it clarified who the article was about.  The woman who looked so much like Killer Frost was Caitlin, and even with a different color scheme, Barry would recognize Eobard in a suit anywhere.  He looked too much like Zoom for Barry’s comfort, and he said as much. 

“An unfortunate coincidence, I’m afraid.  I asked Cisco to design my new suit before Zoom showed up.  It took a while for the public to realize that Zoom’s lightning was different from my own.” Eobard did sound regretful about that, but Barry knew it was an act.  Eobard was incapable of remorse. “But as you see, I’ll have a long history of being the hero, Barry.”

“You’ll trip up eventually, and when you do you’ll lose everything.  Even if I don’t remember, I hope I’m there to watch it happen.” Barry turned to glare at Eobard. 

Eobard backed his wheelchair up so he could leave the room. “Until that day comes, try to remember that you’re the one they won’t believe.  Have a good evening, Barry.”

Barry watched Eobard leave then turned back to the future newspaper.  He had a lot to think about.  He had to decide if he was going to play Eobard’s game, or continue to try to convince the others that Eobard was a fraud.  In the end, Barry decided to do as Eobard had done and play a long game.  A game that should start with Barry writing down everything he remembered, so that when he forgot there was a record of it somewhere.  With that in mind, Barry finally left the time vault to go hunt down some paper and a pen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it. I'll be touching on it a bit more when I reach that point in Season 2, that's why I stopped where I did. 
> 
> I thought long and hard about whether or not Len would end up being a meta, and I decided that I just prefer meta!Len so yeah, he gained his powers around the same time Cisco and Caitlin did at the end of Season 1/beginning of Season 2. I think the difference between him and Caitlin is that he's not a heatsink like she is, and he's more over ice specifically whereas Caitlin is cold in general.


	6. Flash Versus Shower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It sounded like a great idea at the time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My much less awesome ICHtA Has Achieved 2k Hits celebration, set any time after Len and Barry move in together.

“Sleep through your alarm again, Allen?” Singh sighed as Barry failed to sneak into his lab.

He couldn’t cite _slipped in the shower_ as an excuse—unless he wanted his coworkers and Iris to rechristen him Batholomew—so he clipped “yup!” and sat through the ensuing lecture.

Barry figured he’d shave a few minutes off his morning routine by speed-showering.

End result: increasingly colder water raining on a sobbing and naked Barry because he was lying there in pain for so long with his horrible boyfriend laughing his ass off instead of helping him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for taking time to read this :3 enjoy what you do here and everywhere!


	7. Me and Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco and Hartley confide in their friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place between Chapters 37 and 38, sometime after Eo took Barry aside to yell at him about the timeline, but before Barry brings in Mark. 
> 
> I probably should have posted this yesterday, but I completely forgot until I was posting Chapter 38 of ICHtA. This is just Cisco and Hartley getting love advice from their friends. 
> 
> Extra special thanks to HFE for pointing out this chapter works better Hartley then Cisco instead of Cisco then Hartley, which is how I wrote it.

Hartley frowned at the chessboard between him and Harrison.  After a few minutes, he moved his rook. 

Harrison nodded thoughtfully. “Not bad.  Slow and steady, right?”

Hartley looked across the board at Harrison, his brow furrowed in confusion.  He didn’t think Harrison meant the game. “If you have something to say, Harrison, say it.”

“Alright.  You should make a more obvious move on Cisco.  It appears that he doesn’t grasp your intentions.” Harrison laced his fingers across his abdomen as he stared unflinching at Hartley.

“I should, should I?” Hartley scoffed. “I’m not certain that would matter.  As much fun as I have making passes at Cisco, he’s clearly not interested.  A more obvious play would just be embarrassing for both of us.”

“I promise you that isn’t the case, Hartley,” Harrison said with concern coloring his voice. “While Cisco is a bit oblivious, it isn’t willful ignorance.  Trust me when I say that he’s very interested in you; he always has been.” When Hartley rolled his eyes, Harrison changed tracks. “He invited you to stay with him, didn’t he?”

Hartley nodded, unsure where Harrison was going with this.

“He didn’t have to do that.  I was fully prepared to offer up the staff rooms to you, until you could find a place of your own.  Cisco asked me not to until he spoke with you.” 

“Really?” Hartley pursed his lips as he considered that.  When Cisco had offered his spare bedroom to him, Cisco had said it was to keep a closer eye on Hartley.  So Cisco lied?  Hartley thought back to all the little moments between the two of them since he’d been released from the pipeline.  Little looks that Hartley had first thought were Cisco keeping an eye on him for possible trouble now took on a completely different meaning.

Harrison shifted his remaining knight while Hartley was having his existential crisis.

Many minutes later, Hartley moved his queen to take one of Harrison’s bishops. “Thank you for the insight, Harrison, but why meddle?  It’s not your style.”

Harrison gave Hartley that scheming smile of his that he sometimes got when he didn’t think anyone was looking. “I just want you two to be happy.”

Hartley nodded thoughtfully at that.  He’d offer to accompany Cisco to his brother’s birthday party—the other had been bemoaning it at home for the past week—then make his move afterward.  Course decided, Hartley returned his full attention to the game, only to find that Harrison had put him into checkmate while he’d been lost in his head.  Hartley grinned across at Harrison as he reset the board.  “Again?”

***

Cisco was itching to get out after the last week, so when Caitlin proposed going out for drinks, just the two of them, he jumped at the chance. 

They went to their usual bar and once they’d gotten their drinks, Caitlin completely blindsided him with, “So what’s going on with you and Hartley?”

Cisco choked on his drink, because of course she’d waited until he took a drink to say that. “Excuse me, what?  There isn’t anything going on between me and Hartley.  In fact, there is the opposite of something happening between me and Hartley.”

Caitlin gave him an all too knowing look. “Cisco.”

He sighed and slumped in his seat. “I’m serious, Cait,” Cisco sighed, slumped in his seat, and dejectedly stared at his beer.  “There’s nothing going on between me and Hart.”

“Why not?  He’s crazy about you, and you’re obviously just as crazy for him.”

It sounded so simple when she put it like that, but Cisco knew the truth.  Now he just had tell his best friend. “Hart flirts like he breathes, Caitlin; he doesn’t mean any of it.” At her disbelieving look, Cisco rolled his eyes. “Hartley flirts just as hard with Barry and Doctor Wells, which can I say is really weird.”

“Oh Cisco…you blind idiot.” Before Cisco could say anything beyond an indignant ‘Hey!’ Caitlin continued, “Hartley doesn’t look at anyone the way he looks at you.  He certainly doesn’t invade Barry and Doctor Wells’ space like he does yours.  He’s constantly hanging off you, or leaning into you, or just staring at you when you aren’t looking.  He’s serious, Cisco.”

“But—”

Caitlin leaned in as she put a hand on Cisco’s arm. “Cisco, do you trust me?”

Cisco rolled his eyes, “Yes, of course I do.”

“Then trust me when I say that Hartley is into you.” Caitlin gave his arm a squeeze before sitting back to take a drink of her cocktail. 

Cisco considered this for a few minutes. “Okay, let’s say I believe you.  What do I do about it?”

Caitlin shrugged. “He offered to go with you to your brother’s birthday party, right?  Take him.”

“I’m not sure Dante’s birthday party is the right place to start testing the waters with Hartley.”

“Sure it is.  You’re showing him that he’s not the only one with a dysfunctional family, and he’ll be there to keep you company if anything happens.” At Cisco’s suspicious look, Caitlin rolled her eyes. “You’ll get to see just how much he’s there for you, Cisco.  Trust me, he won’t leave you to flounder.”

“Yeah, okay, I guess you’re right.  Thanks, Cait.”

“You’re welcome, Cisco.” She leaned in to give him a hug. “You’re like a little brother to me; I have to keep you on the straight and narrow.”

Cisco gave a snort at that horrible joke. “Right.” He took a drink of his beer then turned in his seat. “Alright, enough about me.  Let’s see if we can’t find you a nice guy to go home with.”

Caitlin laughed as she shoved at Cisco. “Cisco!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know some people probably have found my "Cisco is oblivious to Hartley's flirting" thing annoying, but I'm pulling that from canon. The look of disbelief when he realized Lisa was hitting on him instead of Barry suggests that he's used to being overlooked. I might also be letting my own personal experiences color Cisco's characterization. I personally am not used to being flirted with, so I never notice it when someone does, and don't believe my friends when they point it out. That's what I was trying to convey with Cisco in ICHtA.


	8. Meeting in the Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ICHtA version of Barry and Len’s talk in the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place in the middle of Chapter 40, when Barry goes off comm after grabbing Snart. Suffice to say, dating gives this conversation a whole different spin.
> 
> Also, yay! ADPOV has reached 1000 hits. Thanks, guys. Guess it’s just right that this started with a Barry and Len scene, and so reaching 1000 hits the next chapter is a Barry and Len scene. I’m also working on another Barry/Len chapter that I hope to have out sometime next week, but given my school schedule no promises.

Barry was furious.  He didn’t think he’d ever been this angry, and that was including when he first confronted the Man in Yellow—Reverse Flash—in that stadium several months ago.  His boyfriend, the man he was quickly coming to realize that he might actually love, had kidnapped his best friend, tortured his brother, and all for a few guns and the Flash’s name.  Of course Barry had no illusions that Captain Cold would do anything to get to the Flash.  Barry had accepted it months ago before they’d officially began dating that he’d run up against Cold eventually as Flash, and he would have to work to keep the two halves of his life separate.

But no, Barry was furious because as soon as Cisco had returned, Barry had gone off alone to call Len.  It went straight to voicemail.  So here Barry was, running as the Flash through Central City towards where the casino’s armored truck was chucking along merrily down the highway.  As he caught up to it, he saw two motorcycles, one of which had a sidecar with Lisa in it; Len was the driver.  He told the team that he was going to grab Snart then go off comms.  They tried to protest as he did just that moments before he grabbed Len around the waist and ran with him into the woods to the west of Central City.  Once he deemed they were deep enough in, and more importantly alone, he let Len go and came to a stop several feet away.

Len made a show of dusting himself off and pulling his goggles down around his neck.  Finally, he looked over at Barry with a sardonic twist to his lips.  “I must say, _Flash_ , that was an interesting ride.  Wouldn’t mind trying it again.  Perhaps you’ll oblige me sometime, _Barry_.”

Barry huffed as he pushed his cowl back.  He crossed his arms as he glared at Len.  “You tortured Cisco’s brother.”

Len shrugged carelessly.  “Business.”

Barry’s lips thinned as he withheld the vast majority of what he wanted to say.  After a minute, he said, “I was going to tell you.”

“I’m sure you were,” Len scoffed.  “Tell me, Barry: how did it feel to be dating Captain Cold without his knowledge?  I bet all your little friends had a good laugh at that.  Captain Cold didn’t even recognize that he was dating the Flash.”

Barry took a couple of steps closer to Len.  “It wasn’t like that.  They don’t know who I’m dating.  Well, they know I’m dating a guy named Len, but that’s it.  I haven’t told them I’m dating _you_.”

“So I’m your dirty little secret,” Len sneered.

“That’s not—” Barry growled as he stalked closer to Len.  “That’s not how it is, and you know it!  Stop twisting my words around, Leonard!  I haven’t told anyone that I’m dating _Leonard Snart_ because I’m running with the technicality that my boyfriend told me his name was _Leonard Scofield_.  I can’t help it that my boyfriend looks a little bit like a known thief.  Do you understand that I could _lose my job_ if anyone at the precinct found out that I was dating you?  And I agreed to a relationship with you anyway, _knowing_ who you are.  Does that sound like someone who wants to date just for the thrill of walking on the dark side?  I’d shout it to the rooftops if I could.  I am _not_ ashamed that we’re dating, Len.  But I am pissed off and disappointed that you’d go to such lengths to learn who the hell the Flash is.”

Len tilted his head as he considered what Barry had said.  “I like spending time with you.  We don’t do it enough.”

Anyone else might have been thrown by the complete 180 in the conversation, but Barry just smiled hopefully.  “No, we don’t.  We could...you know...hang out and watch Netflix sometime.”

With a nod of acquiesce Len said, “I have a house that we could use.  Somehow I doubt that your foster father would appreciate it if I were to come over to your place.”

“No, he probably wouldn’t,” Barry agreed with a laugh.  He closed the final distance between the two of them and tentatively reached out to grab Len’s hand.  Len gave Barry’s hand a small squeeze, which had Barry smiling broadly.  “How about this Saturday?  I’m on call, but we just took care of a metahuman yesterday, so we’re due about a week or so break before another pokes their head out.”

Len pulled Barry by his hand until he could wrap his arms around the younger man.  “Saturday works for me.  I’ll order takeout from that Japanese place you like.”

Barry wrapped his arms around Len’s shoulders.  “Mmmm….sounds great.  Oh, just be sure to get enough for about four people.  I tend to eat a lot; accelerated metabolism.”

Len’s eyebrow raised at that.  “So when we’ve gone out previously…?”

“...I’ve had to eat a Flash-specific calorie bar to hold me over until I could actually eat my fill after our dates.”  Barry shrugged.  “They taste nasty, but I’ve gotten used to them.  Barry Allen can’t exactly be seen eating enough for three people in public.”  At Len’s curious look, he explained, “I need a minimum of around 10,000 calories a day just to function; more if I do a lot of running.”

“So what you’re saying is that to beat the Flash all I had to do was keep you running long enough so that you fell into a hypoglycemic coma?”

Barry smiled sheepishly.  “Shhh...don’t tell anyone.  That is privileged information, Mr. Snart.”

Len smirked as he leaned in.  “And what are you willing to pay me to keep that information to myself, Mr. Allen?”

“I’m sure I can think of something,” Barry said as he glanced down briefly at Len’s lips.  He licked his lips before asking quietly, “Are we really going to do this?”

Len’s own gaze flickered down before it returned to Barry’s eyes.  “‘This’?  You mean keep dating?  Well, I have grown quite fond of you, and nothing has really changed, has it?  Barry and Len can keep dating, and the Flash and Cold can keep playing.  And when Cold and Flash play a little hard, well.  I look damn good in a nurse’s outfit.”

Barry laughed at that.  “Yeah, okay.”  He closed the distance between them to kiss Len.  Everything melted away to just the two of them.  They weren’t the Flash and Captain Cold.  They were Barry and Len: a pair of fools who were on their way to falling in love.  The kiss said everything they couldn’t about what they felt for one another; what they’d be willing to do for one another.   

It felt like coming home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra thanks to HFE for rescuing the end of this chapter from a mediocre ending. The original ending for this gave me a lot of trouble, and was a lot more abrupt before HFE talked me around and gave me a few suggestions on how to end it.
> 
> And I realize that it might seem like Barry does an abrupt shift from pissed to teasing, but he really cares for Len. Make no mistake, he’s still pissed as hell at Len for what he did, but he was also very happy that he wouldn’t have to break up with Len because of this.


	9. Domestics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into how Len and Barry spend their days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few scenes between Barry and Len that take place sometime after Chapter 40 and ADPOV Chapter 8, when Len finds out Barry’s the Flash. I decided the boys needed some domestic fluff.

Barry lay across Len’s couch reading a forensics periodical during a typical Saturday afternoon.  Len was sitting at the other end with Barry’s feet in his lap, holding a book he was reading in one hand while the other idly turned Barry into a pile of goo via foot massage.  Barry kept peering around his periodical to stare at Len.  The other man was wearing his reading glasses, and Barry just couldn’t get over how adorable Len looked in them.  He also looked breathtakingly hot, and Barry once again wondered how in the world he’d managed to land such a fine man.  Then Len opened his mouth and Barry was reminded that his boyfriend was a giant dork.

“Have you considered going back to see the dinosaurs.  Just think about it: you could take pictures and video of living creatures we can only guess at.  Aren’t you curious to know what a Tyrannosaurus Rex _actually_ looks like?”

Behind his periodical, Barry’s mouth twitched in a grin. “Sure, but what if I leave a footprint that then fossilizes and throws all of paleontology on its head?  Do you _really_ want me to leave evidence that humans might have been around at the same time as the dinosaurs?”

Len hummed thoughtfully. “Hm.  Good point.” He switched to rubbing Barry’s other foot. “So what if you were to travel back in time, say twenty or thirty years, and place a few small bets here and there, then set the winnings aside in an high interest accruing account to be inherited by yourself in the present?”

His boyfriend was also an unrepentant crook, who was always looking for ways to game the system.  Barry rolled his eyes safely behind his periodical. “What would I need all that money for, Len?  I like my job—both of them—and I make enough as a CSI to get by.”

“For your bottomless stomach, of course,” Len said teasingly before briefly releasing Barry’s foot to flip the page in his book. “I am honestly dumbfounded at how you can afford to keep yourself fed with your appetite on that pitiful budget.  Remember, Barry: I know how much you eat; there should be no way that you could afford that much food on a CSI’s salary.”

Barry poked Len’s belly with his free foot. “If I was paying for everything, sure, I’d probably starve, but Doctor Wells gives me a weekly food allowance to cover everything.  I tried to fight him on it—”

Len scoffed, “Of course you did.”

“—but he said it was the least that he and STAR Labs could do, since they were the cause of my appetite.”

“Well, he’s not wrong.”  Len set aside his book after marking where he was, then turned his full attention on massaging Barry’s feet. 

Barry moaned then tossed aside his periodical in favor closing his eyes and enjoying the attention his boyfriend was giving his feet. “You can stop doing that in about never.”

Len chuckled. “I’m honestly surprised that your healing doesn’t take care of tense muscles.”

“They aren’t technically injured.  I never even realized there was a problem until you started rubbing them,” Barry said with another moan. 

“Careful, Barry; if you keep making noises like that, I’ll have to start rubbing something other than your feet,” Len said in a deeper timbre.

Barry caught his bottom lip between his teeth briefly before asking, “Promise?”

Len smirked as he shifted on the couch to crawl up Barry’s body. “Since you asked so nicely.”

Needless to say, they didn’t get much reading done that afternoon.

***

Barry moaned as he bit into the blueberry muffin Len had shoved in his face as soon as he’d arrived. “And he bakes.  How are you so perfect?”

He almost missed the surprised look on Len’s face that slowly melted into a pleased smile. “Haven’t you heard?  The best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.  I just thought that of anyone that would be most true with you.”

Barry opened eyes he hadn’t realized he’d closed to take in the multitude of muffins on the counter; around four dozen piled high on four plates.  They didn’t all look like blueberry, and there were enough that Barry thought they might just fill him.  Len really did know him. “I love you.” Barry’s eyes widened the moment he spoke.  He hadn’t meant to say that.

Len’s eyes widened in shock for a moment before a blush spread across his cheeks.  He smirked in an attempt to hide it and said, “I know.”

Barry stared at Len for a moment before what the other man said sunk in.  His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Did you just Star Wars me?”

“If you have to ask, Scarlet…” Len leaned forward to kiss him. “The sentiment is mutual,” he said after a moment.

Barry wasn’t put off by Len not saying the words, however.  He knew Len sometimes had trouble emoting after a lifetime of the only two people he’s loved being his sister and his best friend.  They’d talked about it early on in their relationship, before Len had discovered that Barry was the Flash.  Barry was just pleased that Len still wanted him in his life. “Good.  I don’t let just anyone feed me, you know.”

Len laughed as he stepped back to pull another batch of muffins—lemon crumb this time—from the oven. “And here I thought heroes weren’t supposed to lie.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Barry asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I’m not calling you a truther,” Len replied with a completely serious look.  Barry stared at him for a minute in disbelief.  After another minute, Len shrugged. “I have access to the internet; I know what memes are.”

“Captain Cold has hidden depths, who knew?” Barry asked with a grin.  He grabbed another muffin.  “Anyway, I’m pretty sure my villains shouldn’t be feeding me, either.”

“There’s a lot of things that I do that your villains shouldn’t be doing,” Len pointed out in a droll voice. 

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t sleep with Heatwave,” Barry said thoughtfully, then laughed at the look on Len’s face.

“Please don’t bring my best friend into this,” Len pleaded with a grimace. “Do you have any idea how many people have thought that we are together over the years?  Because the idea of Mick and me being friends is just too foreign a concept for some people.”

“I mean, you two are pretty much opposites.  He’s hotheaded where you’re cool and collected.”  Though Barry sounded serious, his lip twitched.

Len gave Barry a pleased smile. “Temperature puns, Barry?  I’m so proud.” He put the next batch of muffins—caramel apple—into the oven. “Mick knows how to keep his cool when it counts.” When Barry groaned at that cheap pun, Len made to move the plate of blueberry muffins, the closest plate to Barry, away from him. “Well, if you don’t like my puns, I’m not sure that you should get to eat my muffins.”

Barry’s eyes widened in horror and he tapped into the Speed Force to snatch the plate away from Len. “Mine!” At Len’s amused look, he amended, “I mean, sure.  Your puns are fine.  They make me laugh.” Barry shoved another muffin into his mouth to shut himself up.

Unholy glee shone from Len’s face before he leaned in to kiss Barry’s cheek.  “A man after my own heart.” Len turned back towards the counter on the other side of the stove, where his Kitchen Aid sat, and began tossing ingredients in for another batch of muffins.  He was thinking triple chocolate this time.

***

Barry followed behind Len with the cart, occasionally nodding or shaking his head when Len asked for his opinion on something.  He hated grocery shopping.  It was so tedious, and boring, and wasn’t something that could be done at Flash speeds.  On the other hand, it did allow him the chance to watch Len quietly fume about outlandish price gouging and cringe in horror at the ingredients of some items.  Len, Barry had discovered, was an extremely thrifty shopper.  While there were some items he would spend the extra money to get name brand for the quality, other items he penny pinched like an old man.  It had quickly become a favorite pastime of Barry’s to watch Len rant about how high fructose corn syrup was in just about everything these days, and how “there shouldn’t even _be_ sugar in tomato sauce!”

“Barry!”

Barry startled from his thoughts and focused on where Len was holding out a package of beef tips. “Huh?”

Len’s lips twitched into an amused grin. “I said, _how does beef stew for dinner sound?_ ”

“Oh.  Uh, yeah, sure.  You know I’ll eat whatever you cook, Len.” They’d decided early on that Len would be the one to cook, because Barry in the kitchen was a disaster waiting to happen.  He could use the microwave and that was about it.  Len had been appalled when Barry had told him that, and gone on a rant for over half an hour about how important it was to be able to cook for oneself.

“Yes, but I didn’t know if you were craving sushi again.” Len didn’t understand Barry’s insatiable love for the stuff, considering how much he had to eat to put a dent in his daily caloric intake tally.

Barry shook his head. “No, stew sounds good.” He watched as Len added four more packages of beef tips to the cart.  Barry looked over everything they had so far and realized they were nearly done according to Len’s shopping list.  Barry had also learned by now not to even think of deviating from the list; to do so risked another lecture on the importance of planning.  He loved Len—and he could admit that to himself now, it _was_ love—but he didn’t need to sit through _another_ lecture.  Len was more than a bit OCD.

Len led them around the rest of the store, getting to the produce section last—something about not wanting the fruits and vegetables to get squished?—before checking out.  Barry covered the bill; ever since Barry had told Len about his food stipend, Len had acquiesced to Barry paying their food bill.  Then it was just a matter of getting everything to Len’s car, and heading home.  Strange how in such a short period of time Len’s house had started to feel like home.

***

_BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!_

Barry groaned as his alarm rang, but reached over to turn it off.  He collapsed back against Len with a sigh. 

“You should call in sick.”

Smiling, his eyes still closed as Len’s arms around him tightened briefly, Barry said, “I can’t.”

The older man kissed Barry’s bare shoulder. “You can.” One of his hands ghosted down across Barry’s abdomen.

Barry considered it seriously for a few seconds, dilating time to give himself more time to enjoy the feel of Len’s arms around him.  But no, he needed to be the responsible one.  Time sped up again as Barry reached down to stop Len’s hand from going any further. “I really can’t.”

Len huffed out an annoyed breath, but didn’t fight Barry again.  He kissed Barry’s shoulder again then quietly withdrew. 

“Sorry,” Barry said as he turned his head in time to see Len pull on a pair of sleep pants.

Len shook his head as he said, “No, it’s fine.  Go hop in the shower, I’ll make you coffee.”

“Thanks, Len.” Barry got out of bed and kissed Len on his way to the bathroom.  A quick wash and five minutes later found him in the kitchen with Len, his arms wrapped around the other man from behind. “Smells good,” Barry said as he buried his face in the slope where Len’s neck met his shoulder.

“It’s not even done yet,” Len replied with a small laugh.  He reached down with one hand to give Barry’s around his waist a squeeze.

Barry kissed the side of Len’s neck. “The coffee smells good, too.” He hooked his chin over Len’s shoulder to watch the coffee pot slowly fill.  An actual coffee pot was one of the many things Len refused to give up in lieu of modern technology.  Mornings like this, Barry was glad.  It gave him more time with Len before he had to run out the door.

“Your lunch is in the fridge.  You should go get it before I decide you aren’t going into work today.” Len gave Barry’s hand another squeeze before gently elbowing him away.

“Like you could stop me,” Barry said with a grin as he let Len go to get his lunch from the fridge.  He spun around in shock when he heard the familiar whine of the cold gun powering up. “Where were you even hiding that?” Barry asked in disbelief as he stared down the barrel of the cold gun.

Len smirked at him before pulling the gun back to rest against his shoulder, barrel facing the ceiling. “A villain’s gotta have some secrets, Scarlet.” He blew Barry a kiss before he turned to pour Barry’s coffee into his travel mug. “Here.”

Barry took his travel mug, but used it to pull Len into a kiss before the other man could let go.  “Mmm…I’ll see you after work?”

“Of course,” Len replied softly. “I have to go meet with Mick, but I should be done by the time you get off work.”

“Good.  I’ve got plans.” Barry kissed Len one last time before reluctantly stepped back.

“Get out of here before you’re late, Barr.  If you won’t let me have fun, there’s no point in you hanging around.” Len powered down his cold gun before setting it on the counter next to him.

Barry laughed at the sight of Captain Cold pouting. “Bye, Len.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for these while driving to and from school last week, and the vision of Barry and Len relaxing on the couch just wouldn't let me go. So yay for 45 minute long commutes!
> 
> And I feel like I should apologize for not descending into smut with some of these. Can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I decided a while ago that ICHtA wouldn't go above PG13, and that goes for ADPOV as well. Not to say I won't ever write smutty fic set in this 'verse, just that these two fics in the series won't have it.


	10. The Case Against Harrison Wells Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco considers what Joe said, and does some investigating of his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This continues from Joe’s POV of the investigation into Harrison Wells from Chapter 3. It covers from Chapter 19 to Chapter 42 of ICHtA. 
> 
> Extra special “I love you thank you so much” to HFE. This chapter gave me so many issues, and just when I was on the verge of scrapping all 2000+ words I’d written to that point, they flew in, made a few edits, and suddenly this was something I could love. Seriously, this chapter literally wouldn’t exist with HFE. Bless you, hon.

Cisco distanced himself from Joe for a while.  The man thought that Harrison Wells had murdered Nora Allen. Crazy, right?  Harrison Wells had a solid alibi for that night; plus, he just wasn’t capable of murder.  The man could be cold and harsh, but who wasn’t after losing the love of their life?  It turned Caitlin cold, it could turn him cold, too.

This didn’t stop Cisco from noticing things when he went back to work at STAR Labs.

Doctor Wells made a point of spending time with each of the younger members of Team Flash.  Honestly, Cisco might call it anyone else’s unrequited love, but Doctor Wells’ affection for the team was clearly paternal love.  He pushed them all to better themselves.  Yes, he was sometimes harsh about it, but it came from a place of love.

Something that Cisco had noticed before, but for some reason took on special significance now that Joe confided his suspicions of Doctor Wells was how he disappeared at the oddest times.  He wasn’t in the cortex, his office, the break room, the med lab, Cisco’s workshop, or the pipeline.  He would come back after a while as if he hadn’t just vanished from the face of the Earth.  Sometimes, Doctor Wells brought Big Belly Burger, but other times he lied and said that he’d been working in his office.  Why would he need to lie?

The first time he disappeared without explanation had been while they were trying to come up with a way to safely separate Ronnie from Professor Stein.  Cisco and Hartley were pulling their hair out trying to think of a solution when Doctor Wells came in with a tachyon chip that, later, Cisco had thought might have been from Mercury Labs.  How did he get hold of it?  All Cisco cared about at the time was that they had a way to save their friend, so he and Hartley had tasked themselves with whipping up the Quantum Splicer.  Doctor Wells had looked so proud of them for that.

It wasn’t until a few days later when Barry had come in with Joe talking about time travel that Doctor Wells behaved oddly again.  When they were trying to explain time travel to Joe, Doctor Wells lectured on it as if it was a familiar topic to him.  Cisco looked up the theories that Doctor Wells had quoted after that discussion.  He found them readily enough, but they were relatively new theories.  The way that Doctor Wells spoke of them suggested they were older, that he possessed personal experience with the subject; none of them did except for when future Barry had dropped in to say hello.  Yes, Doctor Wells was a physicist, but not all physicists played around with quantum physics.

Something he had found that made no sense was when he was looking over the security video of when Barry had become a porcupine.  Cisco had been looking through the footage to figure out how Professor Stein had not only gotten into the Labs, but how he’d found them.  There was a camera with a particular angle in the med lab near the sinks.  It caught Doctor Wells before, during, and after his little burst of speed to the sink.  There wasn’t anything particularly off about before or during that little burst of speed, but after… Cisco paused the video on Doctor Wells and stared at the self-satisfied smirk.  Nobody in the room would have noticed it because Doctor Wells had his back to the room, but it was visible to the camera.  That was just after Barry had deliriously asked if Doctor Wells was a speedster.  Why would Doctor Wells look so smug about that?  Cisco unpaused the video and stared with wide eyes as Doctor Wells’ expression changed to one of sheepishness in a blink like he was putting a mask back on. What the hell?

That incident bothered Cisco, but it wasn’t anything significant by itself.  So Doctor Wells was proud to be a speedster.  So what?  Except Cisco remembered how the following week Doctor Wells ran for them on the treadmill for the first time and blew Barry’s record out of the water.  Barry was only just reaching speeds of 500 and 600 miles per hour, but Doctor Wells did that with ease on his first run.  Plausible, yes, but odd—especially considering how steady his vitals were.  He had seemed exhausted after that run, but his vitals didn’t reflect that.  Cisco wasn’t sure that Caitlin had noticed because they were all excited that day.  But now, after the fact, Cisco wondered.

That was another thing to come to light during that run: Doctor Wells’ lightning was red.  Of course, as far as they knew speedsters couldn’t control their lightning color.  They hadn’t come across enough speedsters to know if repeating colors were possible or even likely.  Cisco wouldn’t have thought anything of it, if not for Joe’s suspicion of Harrison Wells.  A suspicion which, Cisco remembered, was proven to be unfounded in light of the conveniently-timed confession from Reverse Flash, Edgar Thawne, supposedly a distant relative of Iris’ boyfriend: Eddie Thawne.  As soon as Joe had circumstantial evidence against Doctor Wells, Reverse showed up to confess to the crime in question.  But as Joe had told Cisco: there were too many coincidences surrounding Harrison Wells to discount. 

Harrison Wells couldn’t be in two places at once.  Cisco had gone back over the videos of the cortex during the previous times Reverse Flash had popped his head out of the ground, from the first instance on.  Doctor Wells was conspicuously absent from the cortex during those encounters the first few times.  He came back with Big Belly Burger and an excuse that traffic was horrible once.

Those early encounters were pretty damning, Cisco knew, except for after that particular instance, those disgruntled victims of the particle accelerator explosion had kidnapped Doctor Wells, and Barry said he saw Reverse Flash there having apparently rescued him.  Doctor Wells was in the cortex whenever Reverse Flash appeared after that.  Cisco couldn’t explain those away, other than it had just been coincidence that Doctor Wells had been missing during those first encounters.

Cisco thought about Doctor Wells’ suit.  Cisco was finished with it, finally, and he was proud of his work.  When Doctor Wells had requested a black suit, Cisco had wondered about that.  What hero chose black as their color?  Except that black was undeniably Doctor Wells’ favorite color; the man wore little else.  And there were plenty of examples in comics and movies of the hero wearing black.  Black Panther was an example of a fiction character.  As for real world examples, there was the Bat over in Gotham.  Witnesses said he wore black, and though he was violent, he got results as Arkham Asylum could attest. 

Speaking of locking up one’s villains, Cisco was reminded that the pipeline had been Doctor Wells’ idea from the beginning.  Rather than rehabilitating them like he’d claimed at the time, they kept them locked up in solitary confinement without sunlight for months instead.  It had only been after Reverse Flash’s arrest that Doctor Wells came to Cisco and Hartley about converting their own metahuman containment technology for use by Iron Heights and the CCPD.  Cisco and Caitlin had never been comfortable with the set up—neither was Hartley, for obvious reasons—and although Barry never said anything against it, he didn’t like it much either.  If Doctor Wells was so against the pipeline, why not suggest Cisco transferring the containment technology sooner?  He hadn’t _needed_ Hartley’s help for that, though it’d been nice to have—quicker, too.

Something else that struck Cisco as odd was Doctor Wells’ complete dislike for Barry’s boyfriend.  Cisco didn’t think it was because Barry had a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend; Doctor Wells never seemed bothered by Hartley, so it wasn’t that Barry was bisexual.  Cisco would think that Doctor Wells knew the man personally, but none of them knew who Barry was dating aside from his name because Barry was keeping it a secret for some reason.

_“His name’s Len—”_

_“—a little older than me—”_

_“—a horrible taste for puns—”_

_“—he had a rough childhood—”_

_“He and his sister—”_

_“Guys, I can’t exactly bring him around here.”_

_“He’s gotten on the Santinis’ bad side in the past—”_

Cisco had choked when he realized who else they knew who had a sister, a horrible taste for puns, was older than Barry, and had crossed the Santinis.  Cisco hadn’t wanted to believe that Barry would date Captain Cold, but it fit with how reluctant Barry was for them to meet his boyfriend and how cagey he got whenever the topic was brought up.  Better: it explained why Doctor Wells didn’t like Barry’s boyfriend.  Cisco wasn’t sure how Doctor Wells had figured it out—like he had, maybe?—but that had to be why he didn’t like him. 

He wondered how Barry could date his own villain.  Maybe Barry saw something in him that nobody else did.  Cisco wasn’t sure how he felt about his best friend dating the man who had tortured Dante.  And why would Captain Cold need to ask who the Flash was…unless he hadn’t known before then that his boyfriend _was_ the Flash.  No wonder Cold was so perplexed when Cisco told him the Flash’s name!

Cisco would need to revisit this with Barry at some point, it wasn’t important.  What was important was the fact that Doctor Wells knew who Barry was dating and hadn’t said anything.  Because he was certain that if Doctor Wells _had_ said something, Barry would be more demonstratively upset.  Wouldn’t he?

All in all, Cisco looked at all the oddities surrounding Doctor Wells, and he had to admit that he could see where Joe thought his behavior was a bit strange.  He appeared to be oddly focused on Barry, and there were a slew of coincidences surrounding the man.  However, there was nothing concrete that said ‘Harrison Wells isn’t who he says he is’.

Not unless you also count the dreams Cisco had been having almost every night since he and Dante were kidnapped by Captain Cold.

***

_“—room shouldn’t exist.”_

_“—a newspaper from the future—”_

_“—I am from the future—”_

_“—Eobard Thawne.”_

_“I have worked for fifteen years—”_

_“—I built the particle accelerator with the flaw purposefully in it.”_

_“—you just happen to have the same red lightning—”_

_“—Doctor Wells—Eobard Thawne—whatever your name is!”_

_“—a tidal wave—”_

_“—destroy the city—”_

_“You have no idea how good it feels to hear my name again.”_

_“—Eobard Thawne—”_

Cisco sat up with a gasp.  He sat there panting for a minute as he tried to calm down his heart. 

Next to him, Hartley peered up at him through squinted eyes; he was virtually blind without his glasses.  “Amado?” He reached up to rub Cisco’s arm.

Cisco reached over with his other hand to give Hartley’s a squeeze. “I’m fine, Hart.  Just a bad dream.  Go back to sleep.”

Hartley sat up and pulled Cisco into his arms. “You’ve been having those a lot lately.  Sure you don’t want to tell me what they’re about?  It might help.”

“No, Hart, it’s—”

“I swear, Cisco, if you say that you’re fine one more time, I’m going to hide all of your graphic t-shirts,” Hartley said sternly.

“Hart…”

Hartley took a guess at what was bothering Cisco. “Cisco, are these dreams about your time with Cold?  Because it’s understandable that you would have bad dreams about what happened to Dante.” 

“No, it’s not that.” Cisco’s eyes closed as he sighed. “It’s just…they’re weird.  Fragments of things.  None of it makes any sense.  And the weirdest thing…”

Hartley rubbed Cisco’s back soothingly. “What, Cisquito?”

“They don’t feel like dreams.  They feel like memories.” Cisco described his dreams.

A few minutes after Cisco finishes, Hartley tentatively said, “I never told you what I know about Harrison, did I?”

Cisco twisted in Hartley’s arms to frown at him. “What you know?”

Hartley went on to explain how he’d been tracking Harrison Wells since late summer; about how he saw Harrison do things he shouldn’t have been able to do. 

Cisco listened with growing horror.  What Hartley was telling him didn’t fit the Harrison Wells he knew, but it _did_ fit the man whom Joe had been investigating for the murder of Nora Allen.  But that man was behind bars now, wasn’t he?

***

Cisco idly tinkered with the new emblem for Barry’s suit that he’d been crafting in his spare time.  Once he’d seen the emblem Barry’s future self had with the white background instead of the red, Cisco knew he had to make it.  It was more or less complete at this point, but it gave his hands something to do, to put some finishing touches on it, while he contemplated everything he’d put together on Doctor Wells.  Cisco wasn’t sure if he believed that Doctor Wells was capable of cold blooded murder, but he couldn’t deny that there were more questions around the man than there should be.

He didn’t agree with Joe that Doctor Wells was behind the murder of Nora Allen; how could he when the real killer had come forward?  However, Cisco also couldn’t clear Doctor Wells of all suspicion either.  Something was up with him, but what?  And what did it have to do with his dreams?  Who was Eobard Thawne?  Was he any relation to Edgar and Eddie?  Why would he put the flaw in the particle accelerator on purpose?  Fifteen years, that was the most damning.  That suggested he _did_ have something to do with Reverse Flash and Nora Allen, but what?

Cisco didn’t know where it all lead to, but he knew one thing: he’d be keeping a closer eye on Doctor Wells from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I mentioned in ICHtA, I don't speak Spanish. I took a year's worth of classes a decade ago, and I barely passed it. If this translation is wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it.
> 
> Amado = beloved


	11. Meet the Parent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where did Henry go in Tricksters between being saved by Barry and meeting everyone in STAR Labs?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place in the middle of Chapter 43 of ICHtA, just before the final scene, and is pretty much what the summary says: what did Henry do after Barry saved him? Well, in the ICHtA-verse, he did this.

Barry stepped back from the hug his father had pulled him into. “Would you mind… I mean, I don’t think Joe would mind waiting a few hours to take you back to Iron Heights.  Do you want to, maybe, meet my boyfriend?”

“I would love to see Lenny,” Henry said with a smile. 

“Okay, great, just hold—wait a minute,” Barry interrupted himself to give Henry a suspicious look. “I never told you his name.  How do you know his name is Len?”

Henry looked cagey for a minute then sighed, “Lenny and I have known each other for years.”

“You… know Len.”  Barry was having a bit of a time grasping this.  His father knew Leonard Snart. “You’ve always known Len.  And you’re okay that we’re dating?  Wait.  How did you know we were dating?  Did he _tell_ you?  He never told me he knew you, or that he told you.”

“Lenny likes to play things close to the chest.  You should know that about him by now, son,” Henry said. “We were cellmates about ten years ago.  We decided to stay in touch after he escaped; we’ve been pen pals for years.  He doesn’t tell me everything, of course, but he mentioned that he had met this cute nerd he wanted to date.  Then Lenny found out this nerd was my son.”

Barry stared at his father in surprise. “But he only just found out that I was the Flash a few weeks ago.”

“Yes, Barry, but he knew you were my son before that.” Henry rolled his eyes before pointing out, “Do you really think I didn’t talk about you at all while I was in Iron Heights?  I might not have mentioned your profession for obvious reasons, but I never kept quiet about how proud I was of you.”

“So… you… Len talked about me?” Barry could tell that his father was beginning to worry about the difficulty he was having with this, but it wasn’t every day that you learn that your father and your boyfriend, who is an internationally wanted criminal, were pen pals.

Henry chuckled at Barry’s tentative question. “Are you kidding?  Every letter I received after he met you was overflowing with how smitten he was with you.”

That caused Barry to give his father a smile that he was sure was very sappy. “Oh wow.  Really?”

“Yes, really, son,” said Henry with a smile. “Now, how about you properly introduce us?”

Barry smiled as he reached for his father. “Hold on tight.”

***

 

Barry kept an arm on Henry to help steady him once they stopped, for which Henry was grateful.  That was a rush, being carried by Barry as he ran, but it was also jarring and a little nauseating.

“Len, are you home?” 

Henry looked around the nicely furnished apartment.  Though he’d only known Lenny inside Iron Heights, and their letters, the apartment struck him as something to Lenny’s tastes.  Someone was home since the lights were on and Henry thought he heard movement in the kitchen. 

Sure enough, Len came out of the kitchen drying his hands on a towel as he said, “Really, Scarlet, what have I told you about being la—Henry!” Len cut himself off as his eyes widened in surprise. “Really, Scarlet, breaking your old man out of prison.  I’ve been such a good influence, I see.”

Henry smiled broadly at the sight of Len.  It was good to see the other man outside of a prison uniform.  It was even better to see that Len had apparently put on the weight he’d sorely needed to gain; the kid Henry had met ten years ago, though in his thirties, had been as much of a beanpole as Barry was. “Lenny.  It’s good to see you.”

Len came up to Henry and held out his hand. “Likewise, Henry.” He tensed when Henry pulled him in for a hug instead, but returned it readily enough.  Henry was one of the few people Lenny didn’t mind touching him.  Len stepped back after a minute and took the time to look Henry over, then noticed that Barry was still in his suit. “Was Henry wrapped up with that fuss earlier this evening?” Even though it hadn’t made the news yet, of course Len had already heard about it.  He had a way of gathering information that to this day Henry still didn’t understand.

Barry gave a sober nod. “James Jesse and Axel Walker took Dad as collateral when they escaped from Iron Heights.”

“I see,” Len said with narrowed eyes. “They’re taken care of?” He relaxed when Barry nodded. “Good.  Come on,” he said with a slap to Henry’s arm. “I made dinner for Barry and I, but there’s plenty if you’d like a home cooked meal before they take you back.  Unless you’ll stay out?”

Henry gave Len a quelling look. “No, Lenny, I won’t be staying out.  I’ll be released soon enough, and I’d rather not jeopardize that.  Thank you for the offer of dinner, though.  I’ll take you up on it.” He followed Len into the kitchen while Barry disappeared deeper into the apartment.

At Henry’s curious look, Len explained, “He’s changing out of the suit.  I have a ‘no speed’ rule in the apartment.  You wouldn’t believe the things he uses his speed to do these days.  It’s ridiculous.”

“It’s amazing, is what it is.  I don’t blame him for taking shortcuts where he can.” Henry looked around the kitchen. “This is a nice place you have here, Lenny.”

“Thank you.  Can I get you something to drink?  I was expecting that Barry would be late, so dinner still has a few more minutes,” Len said as he set another place at the table. “Dinner, by the way, is spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce, spicy Italian sausage, meatballs, and garlic bread.

“Water’s fine, Lenny.”  Henry took a seat where Lenny directed him to and gratefully took the glass of ice water that was handed to him. “Thanks.  So…you and Barry are getting serious, I see.  He told you he’s the Flash?”

Len blinked at the question before turning to face the stove. “Not exactly.”

Henry sighed, “What did you do, Lenny?”

“He tortured Cisco’s brother for the Flash’s name,” Barry answered for Len as he stepped into the kitchen in sweat pants and a too-large sweater.  He walked over to Len to kiss him hello, then backed up to lean against the counter with his arms crossed.

“Lenny!”

Len held up his hands as he turned fully to face the two Allen men. “It was business.  I like Cisco.  I respect his intelligence and the lengths he’d go to for his family, but keep in mind that I had no idea that Barry was the Flash.” He gave Barry an annoyed look. “If my boyfriend had trusted me with his identity, I wouldn’t have had to involve Cisco and his brother.” 

Barry rolled his eyes as he moved to sit next to Henry.  Len turned back around to monitor the sauce. “He’s been saying that for the past two weeks.  My response is that he didn’t have to _torture_ my friends!” Despite his words, Barry’s tone was more long suffering than genuinely upset.

Henry grinned as he watched them together. “You two are adorable.” He saw the back of Len’s neck turn red, and Barry flushed the color of his suit.  Henry knew it should bother him that his son was dating someone of clearly questionable moral character, but he knew Len was a good man who did bad things.  Bad things that he only did because he felt like he had to.  Henry had faith that Barry’s pure nature would bleed through to Lenny eventually.

“I’m too cool to be adorable, thank you very much.” Len turned the stove off before serving everyone. “If I’d known you were coming by, Henry, I’d have made something else for your first meal out.  Give me warning next time and I’ll make something more impressive.”

“This is fine, Lenny, thank you.”

For the next few minutes, everyone was quiet as they enjoyed the fruits of Len’s labor in the kitchen.  Once Barry had finished his first plate and was halfway through his second, he asked, “So you two know each other?”

Len smirked across the table at Henry. “When I was sent to Iron Heights about ten years ago, I got put in a cell with this guy that everyone insisted was a murderer.  I’m sure that their thinking was that since we’d both killed, we’d get along great.  Because that’s how prison works.” This last was said sarcastically, with a roll of Len’s eyes. “But I knew within half an hour of meeting your father that he was innocent.  This man couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone kill his wife.  So I decided to keep an eye on him.”

“What Lenny means is that one of the Family men tried to shove a shiv through his ribs, and I’m the one who patched him up.  He didn’t want to alert the guards, and it wasn’t that bad, so I agreed to keep quiet about it,” Henry explained.  At the look Len gave him, Henry smirked. “He’s a lot like a cat: prickly until he decides he likes you, then he’s all fluff.”

“Vicious lies,” Len responded quickly, but it was clear that Barry believed his father more than Len.  Not that Len seemed overly bothered by that.

Barry reached across the table to poke Len’s arm. “You never told me that you knew Dad.”

Len shrugged, “It didn’t seem important.”

The pinched annoyed look that Barry gave Len had Henry laughing. “Blame me, Slugger.  I was hesitant for you to know that I’d actually befriended a known criminal.”

Conversation drifted, as it tends to do, but Henry mostly remained quiet to watch his son interact with his boyfriend.  They had an ease around each other that Henry had only seen in couples that had been together for years, not the few months he knew it’d been.  That gave Henry hope that, despite their differing sides of the law, they would make it long-term.  Barry needed more happiness in his life as far as Henry was concerned.  So did Lenny.  He was glad they’d found that in each other.

If Henry hadn’t known that he’d be out within the next couple months, that night might have been bittersweet.  As it stood, Henry took it as a sign of things to come, and he eagerly looked forward to spending more time with these two fine men.  In the morning, he’d briefly get to meet Barry’s other friends, and he couldn’t wait for that either.  He wanted to eventually be part of his son’s life once he had acclimated to life on the outside.

He shared a brief look with Len before the other man returned his attention to Henry’s son.  Henry hadn’t told Barry, but Len was helping him get together a little something for when he got out.  He was bursting with pride and love for the man his son had become.  However, he had spent the past fifteen years locked away from the world.  He needed time to find his own footing, without being in his son’s shadow.  Without distracting Barry from what was important.  Because he knew Barry better than anyone, and he knew if he stuck around immediately after getting out of prison, Barry would drop everything to focus on Henry.  And Henry couldn’t allow that to happen.  So Henry would enjoy this time he had with his son and his boyfriend.  It would help him get through the tough times ahead.  

Henry just hoped that Barry forgave him some day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this this morning, and completely blanked on it until just now. Ah well, better late than never.


End file.
